Honeywell Gears Up to Post Q1 Earnings: What Lies Ahead for the Stock?

Honeywell International Inc.HON is scheduled to release first-quarter 2026 results on April 23, before market open.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for HON’s first-quarter revenues is pegged at $9.3 billion, indicating a decline of 5.6% from the prior-year quarter’s figure. The consensus mark for earnings is pinned at $2.31 per share, which has remained steady in the past 30 days. The figure indicates a decline of 8% from the year-ago quarter's figure.

The company delivered better-than-expected results in each of the trailing four quarters, the earnings surprise being 7.6% on average. In the last reported quarter, its bottom line beat the consensus estimate by 2.4%.

Let us see how things have shaped up for Honeywell this earnings season.

Factors Likely to Have Shaped HON’s Quarterly Performance

Strong momentum in Honeywell’s commercial aviation aftermarket business, driven by solid demand in the air transport market and supply-chain improvement, is expected to have supplemented the top-line performance of its Aerospace Technologies segment. Strength in the defense and space business, owing to stable U.S. and international defense spending volumes and sustained demand from the current geopolitical climate, is likely to have been a tailwind as well. For the first quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the segment’s total sales is pegged at $4.33 billion, indicating a 3.7% rise from the year-ago reported number.

Solid demand for its products and solutions, supported by increasing building projects, particularly in North America and the Middle East, is expected to augment the Building Automation segment’s results. Increasing order rates in data centers, health care and hospitality projects are likely to have been a tailwind as well. For the first quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the segment’s total sales is pegged at $1.84 billion, indicating an 8.9% rise from the year-ago reported number.

Synergistic gains from the acquisitions made by the company are expected to have boosted its top line. In August 2025, Honeywell acquired three utility platforms from SparkMeter, Inc. The utility platforms acquired are Praxis for data and analytics, GridScan for tracking grid performance and GridFin for managing energy costs and customer rates. The company’s acquisition of Nexceris’ Li-ion Tamer business (in July 2025) enabled it to boost its fire life safety portfolio under the Building Automation business and expand its presence across the energy storage and data center markets. In June 2025, HON completed the acquisition of Sundyne. The inclusion of Sundyne’s advanced products with Honeywell Forge technology is expected to aid its first-quarter results.

However, Honeywell’s Industrial Automation Solutions segment is expected to have put up a weak show in the quarter due to softness in the process solutions business, owing to a decrease in demand for measurement and control products. For the first quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the segment’s total sales is pegged at $2.31 billion, indicating a 3.1% rise from the year-ago reported number.

The Energy and Sustainability Solutions segment is expected to have witnessed a year-over-year decrease in revenues due to weakness in the UOP business, attributed to lower petrochemical catalyst shipments as customers continued to defer projects.

Over time, HON’s performance has been negatively impacted by high costs and expenses. Higher direct and indirect material costs and investments in digital infrastructure and business integration activities are expected to have pushed up the company’s operating expenses, which are likely to have reflected in its margins.

Earnings Whispers for Honeywell Stock

Our proven model predicts an earnings beat for HON this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat, which is exactly the case here, as elaborated below.

HON’s Earnings ESP: HON has an Earnings ESP of +0.07%. You can uncover the best stocks before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Honeywell’s Zacks Rank: HON currently carries a Zacks Rank of 3. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Other Stocks With the Favorable Combination

Here are some other companies, which, according to our model, have the right combination of elements to beat on earnings in this reporting cycle.

3M CompanyMMM has an Earnings ESP of +0.32% and a Zacks Rank of 3 at present. The company is slated to release first-quarter 2026 results on May 21.

MMM’s earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 4.6%.

ITT Inc. ITT has an Earnings ESP of +3.61% and a Zacks Rank of 3 at present. The company is scheduled to release first-quarter 2026 results on May 6.

ITT’s earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the preceding four quarters, the average surprise being 1.7%.

Centene CorporationCNC has an Earnings ESP of +18.89% and a Zacks Rank of 3 at present. The company is slated to release first-quarter 2026 results on April 28.

Centene’s earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters while missing the mark in one, the average surprise being 60.6%.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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